Made it to Cusco

Sorry that I have not had a chance to update you with all of my adventures these past two weeks. It has been a crazy two weeks with so much going on, I have not really had time for anything. Most of my travels where arriving in the city by night bus, touring the city, and then off to a new one that night. So not much chance to write and keep you up to date. But I am proud to say that I made it to Cusco safe and sound. Here is what I have been up to:

From Buenos Aires Tyler and I took a night bus to Cordoba which I really liked. It was a pretty cool town with a lot of young people. Guess there are a lot of universities in and around the city. Toured there for two days and saw all of the tourist sites. Jesuits had a big impact there so that was pretty cool being from a Jesuit highschool and college and all.

Then we took a night bus to Salta which was a smaller town then Cordoba. Toured around the city in a day and then decided, after hearing how cool the surrounding mountains and landscape were, to raft. So we signed up to do some white water rafting which turned out to look beautiful with all the reds and blues and purples and greens. It was only class 1 and 2 rapids so very easy.

We then took a night bus to the border which turned out to be quite a hassle. Tyler and I ended up having to pay 135 US dollars in order to get into the country. Guess it costs that much for Bolivians to enter the US so they tax us. After talking with some people, found out that most of the people of Bolivia hate it because it cuts way back on US tourism to the country. We sat around the border town of Villazon for a half a day and watched a super pitiful carnival celebration. We then caught the train at about 330pm for a supposed 10 hour ride.

Let me tell you, this was the worst train ride ever. The sites and canyons we went through were amazing. But once it got dark, it started to rain. At about 11pm I noticed the train had stopped for a longer time than usual. I looked outside and saw our engine had disconnected from us and was traveling back the way we had come with no cars. A conductor announced that the tracks had been flooded and we would need to stay the night where we were and would be updated about midday. We sat in the same spot till 330pm the next day, thats 14.5 hours in the same spot in some random country side. No food no nothing. It was pretty bad. We eventually go to Uyuni after a 27.5 hour adventure.

In Uyuni we decided to do the 3 day salt flat tour which was surreal. It was one of the coolest things I have done this trip. First day was spent traveling on the salt flats that had about an inch of water on them in a 4wd car. Ill put some pictures up so you can look at them. It was the coolest thing i have seen. We then slept in a really small village in a building made of salt. even the beds were made of salt (mattresses on top of course) but the walls and tables were all made of salt. Pretty cool. Then the next two days were spent traveling around the south western corner of Bolivia visiting a bunch of colorful lakes. Pretty cool to see. Climbed to over 5000m so altitude did have an effect on some of us. Tyler and I werre with an Argentina couple and a Swedish couple although the guy was from Bolivia. Gave Tyler and I a lot of chance to speak and practice our Spanish.

Once we got back, we headed to La Paz. Toured around the city but wasnt to fond of it. It was a big city with people everywhere and horns honking everywhere. Pretty crazy. Went to a bunch of the tourist attractions the first day. Ate dinner at the hostel which ended up giving me really bad food poisoning. So the second day was spent trying to recover from that. Talked with some people and if you dont get food poisoning in Bolivia, you aren't experiencing it well enough. I could have done without.

After touring around La Paz a little more, Tyler and I caught a bus to Cocacabana to visit Lake Titicaca. Little tourist town was cool and was a great jumping point to some of the islands. We decided to head to Isla del Sol. This island was where the Incas believed life was created. The island was very cool and everything was terraced. No cars existed so everything was transported by donkeys. That was pretty funny. Lots of trails all over the island and had some great views of the huge lake. It felt like we were on the ocean.

After a day of that, Tyler and I split up. He went back to La Paz because we is flying home in the next couple days. I took a bus from Cocacabana to Cusco. It was a long bus ride but I am glad I finally got here. I arrived at night so went straight to the hostel. Been walking around a little bit yesterday and today. Got in contact with a spanish school that is going to set me up with a host family to live with. I am going to talk with another to set up my interview with the director of a children's clinic and another interview with a hospital. I hope these work out because it will be a very inexpensive way to volunteer. I will hopefully have the interviews on Friday

After all my crazy adventures, I have made it and am ready to begin volunteering. I hope everything works out. As long as I have happy thoughts, I am sure everything will work out. I will send links to the pictures I post once I get them uploaded. Hope all is well at home. Cant believe I am already more than a third of the way through my trip.